Sunday, August 2, 2009

Please help!! I'm trying to set my aquarium up with live plants?

I just purchased two packages from walmart. One is the miniture lily and one is the Aponogeton. I have let them sitin a jar of water for two days now. I just put them in my betta's aquarium. All of the bulbs float except for one lily and one aponogeton bulb. My question is, how long will it be before they sprout, are they supposed to be floating? Is it harmful that my betta is pushing on them? And is the water lily going to be good for my aquarium? it's a dwarf, so I'm thinking if I put one plant of it in the back corner and prune it, it should be fine. I don' thtink the leaves come to the surface all the time. (plus, are the aponogetons good for my betta to rest on? that's why I bought them). Well, even if they don't sprout, at least it's something for my betta to do now :D (I'm not sure if my other question actually posted or not, sorry for the repeat if it did!)
Answers:
I just bought 2 of them myself about 2 months back
no they won't hurt your betta
as for sprouding, they usually start after about 15-20 days
the one that fell already to the ground will definately start to sproud, the ones that float, wait about 3 weeks, if they still haven't sunken to the bottom then you have to trow them out
I had 2 bulbs, one started sprout the other one I through out after a month
Live plants are very good for your tank, and a betta loves to rest on them, don't use plastic plants in a betta's tank
Hope that helps
Good luck

EB
Stick with plastic plants (thier easy to maintain) the live ones will just be trouble.
you can put it in your betta as long as its a tank with light..the plants need light because of photosythesis..
The bulbs are floating because they are not water logged yet. Try tapping on them once in a while and they may sink.
Both plants will send leaves to the surface. The aponogenton will have small leaves so as long as you have a 10+ gal it should be fine. If conditions are right it will flower - they look great. The lily can be trained to stay short by prunning as you said.
As far as sprouting that depends on too many factors(CO2, amonia, lighting, substrate, temperature,etc...). If you have a good setup for them you should see sprouts in about 2 days. I have some that are just sprouting after 6 months.
The bulbs shouldn't hurt your beta either.

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